Eternal Hope (A Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts 2 fic)

Disc.: I do not own 'Kingdom Hearts 2' or 'Final Fantasy' in any way at all- they belong to their respective creators, this is just a harmless story!

A/N: It's time for Ch.5! It's coming right up to a very important part in the story- the group finally makes it to the surface and to the seaside city of Bodhum…Also, they'll learn more about Sora and Vincent's past together. It's extremely important to the story, so stick around and see what all goes down!

Ch.5- New World, New Surprises

After finding his way back to his friends, Lightning scolded Snow for running off without telling them while Hope shot him a glare. He had no other way to calm them down other than to just apologize and promise not to do it again, so he humbled up and told them he was sorry. Sazh came out of the ship to tell everyone that it was all ready to go, but he was greeted by everyone holding up their weapons.

"Hey guys, no need to fly off the handle like that! I know I took a little longer than necessary, but seriously-"

"Sazh, move…now!"

Sazh looked behind him to see a Garuda Interceptor growling at him, which prompted him to haul ass and join the others. The Interceptor jumped down off the ship and engaged the group in a fight, Vincent hanging back to keep his lover safe while Snow, Lightning, and Sazh fought the huge monster. Vanille and Hope snuck away and entered the ship to start powering it up; after they staggered the Interceptor it retreated, which gave them a chance to board the ship. Lightning set the destination to the seaside city of Bodhum, and after thrumming to life the airship took off towards the sky.

When they'd gained enough altitude, Vincent sat down next to his mate, who had yet to wake up from his coma. The raven haired Chaos Vessel hadn't felt this helpless since that day in Rufus' lab when they had first learned that the brunette male was pregnant with his rapist's children. Instinctively, he grabbed Sora's hand in his own and started to cry when there was an explosion. He then heard Sazh yelling "Hang onto something, we've got dogs on our tail!"

It took much flying on Sazh's part before they finally managed to shake them. But they only had a small moment to rest before the enemy showed up again, and this time they finally got help as Lightning spotted a Fal L'Cie floating nearby.

"Fly in, we'll lose them in there!"

The dark skinned male nodded and maneuvered into the L'Cie's airspace, the planes following them only to get knocked out of the sky by the L'Cie's power.

"I like this Fal L'Cie!"

"Look out!"

Sazh didn't have any time to move before their plane was shot and they had no choice but to make a crash landing, the rest of the party getting knocked out when the airship hit the ground really hard. When they finally came to after being thrown from the airship, Lightning looked around at where they'd ended up…and she didn't like it at all.

"So, where are we?" Hope asked.

"Well from the looks of things and the environment, I'd say that we're not in Bodhum just yet." Snow replied.

"He's right, we're in the Cocoon Deadlands…specifically, the Vile Peaks. And we're not alone!" Lightning said as she pulled out Gladius to take on the two Pantherons that had shown up looking for easy prey.

Vanille had managed to get Sazh to wake up while Vincent came out of the ruined ship carrying Sora on his back, looking a little ragged. It seemed like the brunette was doomed to forever remain comatose, and this scared the raven haired Chaos Vessel more than anything else in the world.

"We should keep moving, we don't want any more late night guests."

"Right…so let's move out; you okay, Hope?" Snow asked him. The kid was starting to grow on him, and he had a feeling as to why but he just pushed the thought aside for the time being.

After everyone was up and moving around, the group soon came to a mine tunnel…seeing as how they couldn't go anywhere else at the moment, they headed straight inside. Vincent was still at a loss as to what to do, he needed his mate to wake up and be there by his side; without Sora, it just felt like his life didn't matter or even if he lived anymore. Vanille could see that he was deeply troubled, so she fell back to offer some consolance, even if it was only a little bit.

"I know he'll wake up soon, we just have to wait. I don't know what it's like to have a husband, or to even be a wife, and I may seem like a little kid who doesn't know anything about love or marriage…but what I do know is how to try and cheer up a friend when they need it most, and I know that Sora will wake up very soon. We just have to wait, and before you know it he'll be there by your side to smile at you again, Vincent!"

Vincent couldn't help but look at her with astonishment in his eyes, she really was just like them…it warmed his heart at how her words were exactly what he needed at the moment, and this brought a smile to his face.

"Thank you, Vanille. You're right, he will wake up soon, I just have to be patient…now let's catch up to the others, we don't want to keep them waiting too long."

"Yep, let's go then!"

After making their way through the maze of tunnels in the mines, Lightning and Hope went on ahead to secure a route while Sazh and Snow sat down to rest for a moment. Vanille went looking for supplies while Vincent just looked around for anything that would help them.

He set Sora down gently so he could think, when Snow noticed the pained look on his face. It looked like he was having a headache or a heart attack, and Snow felt concern for his friend.

"Hey Vincent, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I…I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I said I'm fine!" Before Snow could ask him again, Vincent's Cieth mark on his neck began glowing a dark purple color before an array appeared underneath his feet. A monster of some sort then appeared in front of them, but it looked almost like a demonic version of Vincent…he then spoke the being's name, as he knew him all too well.

"Chaos."

(With Lightning and Hope)

The two of them were making fairly good time through the Deadlands. Lightning and Hope had taken out their share of enemies, but the young silverette was starting to feel tired from all the fighting and had wanted to rest…but he didn't want anyone to think that he would just give up so easily when the chips were down.

As they made their way across the bridge, the silverette had to wonder what Lightning thought of his desire to become stronger so he decided to just come out and ask her.

"Lightning, don't you think we should rest a bit?"

"You can if you want to, but I'm not resting until we get to Bodhum."

"But Light…"

"At any rate, it doesn't matter…you should just stay here." Lightning said as her Cieth mark began glowing with a magenta light, pain shooting through her whole body.

"What?!"

"I'm saying that…you're nothing but a liability."

"But, I can get stronger- I know it!"

"I don't have time to look after another person…(grunts in pain)…especially…not some little kid! I can barely look after myself." The pinkette warrior shouted as the pain became too much, an array appearing beneath her feet; an armored knight then materialized within the center of the array. It saw Hope as an easy target and went after him, but Lightning managed to stop its' sword from falling on him with her own as she took on the being in front of her…which now designated her as its' new target.

"Lightning!"

"I can handle him, just stay behind me!"

So the fight began, with Lightning running towards the enemy and delivering a slash to its' head. It seemed unfazed by such a move, but she used this chance to swipe at it's stomach and that seemed to work because it staggered back for a moment before Lightning began a rather aggressive series of slashes and strikes to the same area.

She then jumped behind it and delivered a punishing blow to its' back…the knight then conceded the battle to her and turned into a horse, the Gestalt beast walking forward and accepting Lightning as his new master, the pinkette warrior hearing the knight's voice in her mind tell her his name.

'My name is Odin, and I shall serve you until the end of our days, Lady Lightning. Call upon me and my power when you need it…I will always answer. Until then, I bid you farewell.'

After Odin disappeared, Lightning fell to her knees exhausted from the battle as Hope ran up to her to see if she was ok.

"Lightning, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little winded, that's all." The pinkette warrior said tiredly as she stood up and caught her breath.

"Hey Light, wasn't that an Eidolyn like the ones that L'Cie can summon to this world?"

"Yeah, but now he's with us. Let's get moving, we don't want anything else giving us a surprise visit. If we keep going, we should soon reach the Gapra Whitewoods and from there it's a straight shot to Bodhum." Lightning said to the silverette before attempting to walk ahead but was stopped by Hope's saddened tone as he spoke to her.

"Ok, I'm…did you really mean what you said before? Am I really nothing but a liability to you, to everyone?" the silverette asked with obvious sadness in his voice, causing the pinkette woman to turn around and sigh as she walked up to Hope…she placed her hands on his shoulders whilst kneeling down so that she could be eye level with him and answered his question.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that; you're getting stronger, Hope…we just need to toughen you up a little more, and this trek will see to that. Now let's get going, and try not to fall behind." The pinkette warrior said as she smirked at the younger boy and began walking a little further ahead of him, the silverette smiling in return as he jogged to catch up to her.

"Yes ma'am!"

Hope could feel his spirits lift a little bit at hearing her say that. In all honesty, he wouldn't have been able to bear it if she did mean what she'd said earlier but now he had a newfound determination to prove himself to her and the others.

(Back with Vincent and Co.)

After finally managing to defeat Chaos and making him obey his orders, Vincent looked to the others to see questions in their eyes. He figured they would have questions, but how was he supposed to explain to them how it is that he and Chaos have a bond that's lasted more than a thousand years? How do you tell someone that you're far older than anyone or anything else that exists, not to mention the fact that you'll far outlive them yet again?

"Well now, I'd say that Vincent here is one hell of a fighter!" Snow said with a hint of admiration in his voice at the man's strength.

"Yep, but what I wanna know is how do they know each other? Seems to me like they've fought together before." Sazh said wanting to know the truth. As Vincent was about to tell them everything, Vanille spoke up and saved him the trouble of doing so.

"He'll tell you everything when we get to Bodhum, right Vincent?"

"Yeah, when we reach Bodhum. By then, Sora should be awake and he'll help me explain everything in better detail. Until then, let's keep moving. Any idea what lies ahead of the Deadlands?"

The others all looked at each other before Sazh pulled out a map that showed where they were and what was ahead of them. "Well, it says that our next destination is the Gapra Whitewoods. If we get going now, we should make good time and from there it's straight to Bodhum!"

With their destination decided, Vincent gently lifted Sora onto his back again and felt relief at the brunette male grabbing his neck gently to hold onto him. The rest of the group then took off for the Whitewoods, hoping that they wouldn't encounter too much trouble but then again things would always seem to end up troublesome for them.

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T.B.C.- I know I'm so mean for keeping Sora in a coma, but he'll wake up soon. Two Eidolyn encounters and a fight are enough for this chapter, so stick around to see what happens next!